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Chapter 1: Feral Child
“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an Outlaw.”
— Nelson Mendela
July 1, 2009
P.O.V Wally West
“Woah”, I gasped as I almost got hit by a passing bullet
“Jesus, wally pay attention,” Robin screamed over the earpiece, I muttered a quick apology and dodged out of the way of another bullet that was coming straight for my chest. I let out a sigh as it passed and kicked the guy in the throat before slamming him to the ground, effectively knocking him out.
Robin and I quickly took the rest of them down before I saw the cameras. I smiled, ‘ Now it was finally time to see my boo, he’d probably be off in an hour or so. I haven't seen him in two months, I bet he was all lonely all on his own, but he doesn't have to worry anymore cause I’m here, ready to take his loneliness away in any way possib–’, I startled as I walked right into Uncle Barry.
“And what exactly are you smirking about”, he asked, but I could tell by his smug look he already knew.
“ What so you can go and block all my plans,” like he’d done every time Me and Jay got together, it was honestly routine at this point, like the last time he interrupted a makeout sesh to get Jay to try out one of his “five-star meals”.
“No, of course not, just so I can plan ahead for them”, he smiled. Yeh no.
“Me and Jay are just gonna go out and get something to eat. Ok, now bye.” I said before quickly leaving him in the dust to find my backpack. I picked it up from behind a dumpster and started heading to me and Jay’s spot, but as soon I started walking a ding came from my belt. I quickly took the special League phone out and I couldn't help but groan as I saw the message.
‘Meet at cave, serious problem ig- Rob’
Well, I guess I'm going to be a little late then. Fuck, Jay’s gonna kill me.
Skip(travel to the cave)
“Kid Flash B-03”, the computer respondent chimed as I appeared in the cave. I saw Robin and the others with a few league members. As I walked up they greeted me.
Batman looked at me before turning to the blank hologram he swiped and a picture of a boy appeared on the screen, he looked around our age and had blue-ish white hair and he was pretty short, about 5’1., “ This is the boy the media is calling, Akull. He has a wide range of ice powers, and unlike many ice villains, his powers are natural. He is mostly involved in a number of petty crimes but he is also involved in a few bank robberies. We have reason to believe that ice giants like Mr Freeze, Killer Frost, and Captain Cold are looking to recruit him into the League of Villains, having worked with him before. But we believe that he could be a great asset to the Justice League.”
“Why exactly are we recruiting him instead of arresting him?”, I ask, “ if he’s worked with these villains like you said, why don’t we go after him and get the information we need.”
Batman clicks to another page on the monitor, “ I and the rest of the league believe it would be more valuable to recruit young villains instead of arresting them. Many of these younger villains are not too far gone to be saved from people like Ra’s al Gaul and Captain cold.”
Kaldur clears his throat , gaining the attention of everyone in the room, “ While I do agree that this method is more effective I do not understand why we, a covert operations team, would be left in charge of recruitment?”
The rest of the league look towards Batman, “ This one isn’t just going to be recruited, just like you he will be trained to be a member of the league”
Wait a second.
“Wait, does that mean-”
“It means if he co-operates, he will be an official part of your group.”
“WHAT”
Jay p.o.v
I had been waiting for three hours, three fucking hours. Where the hell is he? And on top of that, he couldn't even send me a text. Maybe he was hurt, maybe I should just call Uncle Barry. Just as I took my phone back out and put in the phone number I saw Wally running towards me.
As soon as he got close enough I punched him on his shoulder, “ Where were you? You know I'm on limited time, right?”
He winced, grabbing his shoulder, “ Geez, ok, I'm sorry. I had an interview and I had to cut my phone off.”, he put his hand on my cheek and kissed me, I kissed him back. Well, I guess I can let him slide this time.
I looked up at him with a blush, “ You better be glad you’re such a good kisser, or I wouldn’t be so lenient”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Now let’s get to this date, why don’t we.”
We walked off towards the carnival grounds. Ready to enjoy the time we had together.
Wally pulled outside of Jay's house to drop him off.
“You sure you don’t want to stay at my place”, Wally asks, staring at Jay's house that was completely dark except for the porch light that was always left on.
Everytime the boy dropped Jay off he’d ask the same thing. Jay knew that Wally had seen his bruises. That he wanted to ask but he knew Jay would just shut him out. Wally had met his father once, and the aftermath was not good.
Jay had thought his dad was gone patrolling like always on late Wednesday nights, so Jay had the bright idea of bringing Wally to his house to catch up. As soon as he walked through the door and saw his father he knew he was a dead man. Sitting through the bright smiles his father gave Wally and the firm handshake,knowing that deep inside his father was seething with rage was one of the most terrifying things he’d ever experienced.
After the boy had left he’d gotten one of the worst beatings he’d ever gotten in his life. Of course his father knew that he was gay, and he’d made sure to throw every insulting thing you could ever say at him.
Jay learned that day. He had learned that he couldn’t survive another four years in that house. That he needed an out, and he would get one. By any means necessary.
Jay blinked as Wally shook him, “ Are you ok, J? I asked you if you were good to go.”
“ Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”, he gave him a quick kiss before running up to his house. As soon as Wally drove away he started climbing up to his window.
Jay sat in silence in the most uncomfortable chair he could imagine. He looked down at the metal table, and listened as the junior justice league talked about him behind the one way glass.
He spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth and focused on his eyes straining to make them flicker to life. As he struggled they stopped flickering, shining in a piercing light purple. His eyes always shined when he activated his powers, but with the meta dampening cuffs he guessed it also affected his eyes.
He focused his attention on the five junior hero’s, not recognizing the green one. Maybe she was new. But he wasn't paying attention to them, they weren't who he wanted to see, his eyes scrolled past them and landed on Wally. He wondered if their relationship would ever be the same, or if he would ever forgive him. It’s not like he wanted this.
After a few seconds of his staring, the five heroes noticed him. He saw robin whisper to black canary before she walked off to ‘who knows where’.
In walked Batman , who pulled up a chair and sat right in front of him. His presence could make any man, weak or powerful, breakdown and plead for their life. He was formidable, but Jay had been up against many dark creatures, Batman was no different.
Jay could tell the older man was assessing his character, trying to find something in his eyes that Jay knew he would never find. Remorse, maybe even fear. His remorse for his actions disappeared the night his father slid into his bed, he was only doing what he needed to do to protect himself.
He knew by the way the bat cleared his throat he was disappointed , “ You’re pretty young to be robbing banks and almost getting a murder charge. Especially alone. So what I want to know is who exactly do you work for. Captain cold?”
“No one. I prefer to work alone ”, and it was true. He did prefer to work alone. He had partnered with many villains before, but he had been hurt once, and he refused to be again.
“Hmm. Yet you’ve worked with villains before. I’m sure the police don’t know this but you were apart of captain colds crew a year ago, robbed a few banks across the city”, he pulled a few pictures out of his cape and slid them across the table. One was of a boy that “looked” suspiciously like me, while the other two Jay assumed were of the some of the victims, “two cops ended up murdered by cold. You remember that?”
“Nope”, he muttered. Jay looked across to the glass, he didn’t have to use his eyes to know that wally was looking at him.
“With disgust, more than likely”, he muttered to himself. Batman eyes him, and looks at the glass with an interested glance.
A knock had sounded and both Batman and Jay looked to the door, black canary had opened the door after a grunted “come in” from batman, she nudged her head to the right, asking him to speak for a minute.
The brooding man sighed before getting up and walking out the door, leaving Jay to his thoughts.
Thoughts about how his father would react finding out about his powers, it didn’t matter if he could possibly get out of this or not. He doubted they would waste any time in telling his father that his precious son was a meta human. And when his father did find out, a life sentence in prison was the least of his worries. He would be dead before the first hearing, body floating down some river, never to be seen again.
His panic started to set in, but he refused to let it show. Especially when Batman and canary came back in only to stand in front of him like death itself.
Waiting to set him free or crush him under their boot
So he waited. Silently, for his final conviction. Flaring up at the two heroes, that in his mind seemed to sit on a pedestal.
Canary stepped forward, “ We’ve come to an agreement amongst the league. From here on you will work as a member of our junior justice league, to repay your debt to society. If you disagree , we can happily cart you off to a holding cell and call your father to obtain a lawyer for you. Which do you prefer?
I swear there was a long silence in the room before a loud, “WHAT”, was heard behind the one way glass.
This shit sucks.
So I was a part of the junior justice league or whatever they were called, I felt the power dampening cuffs fall from my wrist. I rubbed them before being guided out of the room by black canary, Batman trailing behind us. I could feel the eyes of the others on me, especially Artemis.
As soon as the door of the interrogation room opened I was faced with Wally's angry face. I tried to say something but before I could he was pulling me to another room. Ignoring the looks from the rest of the team.
“Wally just let me explain.”, I said, my voice sounded eerily distant.
“ Please, Please explain to me why you were working with a convicted murderer, please tell me why you almost killed Artemis. Please tell me why you were lying to me this entire time, about everything. All this time I was wondering where those bruises came from, and they were from you being a criminal.”
Why? Why is this happening now? Why can’t I just be happy?
I scoffed, “ Like you weren’t lying to me either. About your job, about why you always had to leave, about why you were always late. How is it any different than me?”.
“ Oh please, there a big difference from lying about saving people and lying about helping murder someone.”, Wally stated. And that made me recoil.
“I-I never did that. I didn’t even know about cold doing any of it. Wally I would never-“
He cuts me off, “Never what? Be a criminal? Lie? Why exactly should I believe you Jay, I don’t even know you.”
He walked off, returning to his team. And leaving me alone.
I could feel the walls closing in, as a daunting realization washed over me.
He was right.
I murdered those men, just like I murdered my mom. Just like I would have hurt him if he’d stayed long enough.
I could feel my control slipping. The sink faucet across the room started to crack and form frost. I tried to do my breathing exercises. In and out. In and out.
I calmed down as much as I could, enough to get my powers under control before heading back out. I’ll have time to fall apart later, preferably while alone and not being spied on. Batman was waiting on the other side of the door, leaning against the wall . He more than likely heard every bit of what was said. But I didn’t care.
Black canary came up to us, “ Is everything ok?”
No, it wasn’t. I wanted to scream at the fact that I ruined everything, that I had no choice, that Wally would never understand, and that I could never tell him either way. Lest he think of me as more of a monster than I already am. I couldn’t bear the fact that whenever I looked at him he was looking away from me.
It was really over.
“ Never better”